BREAKING | May 29, 2026 | Cricket
97 Off 29 Balls. 65 Sixes. 680 Runs. He Is 15 Years Old. And He Is Just Getting Started.
There are moments in sport when you stop watching and simply stare. When a 15-year-old boy from Samastipur, Bihar walks out to bat in an IPL playoff match, faces the world’s best bowlers including Pat Cummins and Arshdeep Singh, and smashes 97 runs off just 29 balls — 12 sixes, five fours, strike rate of 334.48 — you are not watching a cricket match anymore. You are watching history being made in real time.
Vaibhav Sooryavanshi is not a prodigy. He is something rarer. He is a phenomenon.
The Night He Broke Gayle
In the IPL 2026 Eliminator at New Chandigarh on May 27, Sooryavanshi smashed 97 off 29 balls — studded with 12 sixes and five fours at a strike rate of 334.48. He raced to his half-century in just 16 balls and in the process became the batter with the most sixes ever recorded in a single IPL season — 65 sixes — shattering a 14-year-old record held by Chris Gayle.
Sooryavanshi’s first ten sixes came in his first 24 balls — the fewest deliveries taken by any batter in IPL history to reach that mark. Chris Gayle, the man whose record he broke, needed 27 balls to hit his first ten sixes in his legendary 175 not out. The 12 sixes Sooryavanshi hit against SRH are also the most by any batter in an IPL playoff game — ever.
He missed a century by just three runs. The entire stadium fell silent when he was dismissed. Even the opposition supporters stood to applaud.
The Numbers That Are Rewriting Cricket’s Record Books
Sooryavanshi’s strike rate this season stands at 242.85, where he has scored 680 runs from 15 innings. He is the first batter in history with 600-plus runs in a T20 tournament while striking at 200 or more. The next best is Rilee Rossouw’s 192.28 from the 2022 T20 Blast — a full 50 points behind Sooryavanshi’s extraordinary efficiency.
Out of his 680 runs this season, Sooryavanshi has accumulated approximately 72% during the powerplay phase alone — underlining his role as an aggressive opener who consistently sets the tone for Rajasthan Royals from ball one. He has surpassed David Warner’s record of 467 powerplay runs in a single season, accumulating 490 powerplay runs in IPL 2026. He needs just ten more to become the first batter in IPL history to reach 500 powerplay runs in a single season.
He is also just 20 runs away from becoming the first uncapped player to complete 700 runs in an IPL season — a record that would place him in a category entirely his own, one where no Indian cricketer without a national cap has ever stood.
The Boy From Bihar
Born on March 27, 2011, in Tajpur, Samastipur district, Bihar, Sooryavanshi began his cricket journey at the tender age of four under the guidance of his father. Samastipur is not a city of cricket academies and artificial turf nets. It is a small town in Bihar’s heartland — the same state that gave India Manoj Tiwary, the same soil that has always produced cricketers who had to fight twice as hard to be noticed.
At 14, Sooryavanshi hit the first ball he faced in his IPL career for a six — becoming the youngest player ever to do so. He later became the youngest centurion in T20 history. Now at 15, he has 680 runs this season at a strike rate of 242.85 — numbers that have no comparison in the history of the sport.
Across 22 IPL matches in his career, he has scored 932 runs at a strike rate of 231.84. That includes two centuries and five half-centuries, and an astonishing 89 sixes. The world has taken notice of this gem of a player.
Sachin Speaks. Vaughan Demands National Call-Up
When Sachin Tendulkar — a man who has seen everything cricket has to offer — sits up and takes notice, you know something special is happening.
Indian cricket great Sachin Tendulkar analysed Sooryavanshi’s batting on social media after the Eliminator, saying the youngster’s technique allows him to play with complete freedom. “That innings was nothing short of spectacular!” Tendulkar wrote. Former England captain Michael Vaughan went even further, calling for an immediate national call-up: “He is the best T20 opener in the world. India have to pick him,” Vaughan wrote on X.
Rajasthan Royals captain Riyan Parag, who has watched Sooryavanshi up close every day this season, summed it up with the simplest and most powerful words: “Everyone loves him and loves having him around. He is still a kid. And he loves batting.”
He is still a kid. That sentence should be read slowly. He is still a kid — and he is already the best T20 opener in the world.
What Happens Tonight: Qualifier 2, GT vs RR
Tonight in New Chandigarh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi walks out again. This time against Gujarat Titans, led by Shubman Gill — himself one of India’s greatest batting talents. Sooryavanshi is just 20 runs away from 700 for the season. He needs 500 powerplay runs to make history. And if Rajasthan win tonight, they face RCB in the Ahmedabad final on May 31 — the biggest stage cricket has to offer in India.
For a 15-year-old boy from Samastipur, Bihar — that would not just be a cricket match. It would be a fairy tale that no writer could have invented.
Sooryavanshi himself, when asked about his extraordinary season, said with a smile that perfectly captures everything about him: “I just try to replicate what I do in practice and try not to do extra. I back my natural game.”
Natural game. 65 sixes. 680 runs. 242.85 strike rate. 15 years old.
Bihar has given India its most exciting cricketer in a generation. The country is watching. The world is watching. And tonight in New Chandigarh, Vaibhav Sooryavanshi will walk to the crease once more — and do what comes naturally.
All match data sourced from ESPNcricinfo, Outlook India, Al Jazeera, and National Herald India as of May 27–29, 2026.
